Thursday, June 15, 2017

Quick notes: Swappable batteries, Eating metal...

Transportation is ripe for disruption: Cars sit idle 95% of the time. Freeing up those dormant cars to be a part of the economy will take more than just Uber. Bikes have a major role to play.

Swappable batteries: India’s EV revolution will begin with auto-rickshaws running on swappable batteries. Compared to larger batteries used in EVs, which typically aren’t interchangeable, these swappable batteries are smaller, cheaper, and take less time to charge. “Suddenly the whole economics was working. And once the economics work, one can scale,” said Prof Ashok Jhunjhunwala.

Jhunjhunwala realised that there was an opportunity to build volumes if EVs could be separated from the single most expensive component: batteries. “We said we’ll start buying vehicles without battery”.

Battery-swapping has been looked at for a long time - the former head of SAP quit to launch a battery-swapping startup company, more than a decade ago. Batteries have long been known to be the most expensive component of an electric vehicle.

Didn't Shai Agassi try it in Israel? It was a great model from a pioneer. For it to succeed in North America, one should be able to buy the car without the battery and then take battery service similar to a cell phone service. Maybe I will suggest this to Padmashree Warrior.

iirc it was shai agassi, of SAP, who created betterplace, the battery swapping firm, in israel and iirc sweden. didn't work because of the numbers (not enough customers). but if autos (which have vast numbers, short and frequent trips, and low radius of activity) can be used to pilot this -- thus creating charging and swapping points all over cities -- it'll get a kick-start.